When Free Is Not Better

Sure, we all like to get stuff for free, right? A business colleague told me once that free is not always better. I was not sure I really understood at the time, but have come to agree in some cases. Now, I am not talking about free stuff at the grocery store we can find online coupons for. What I am talking about is when you will need some level of service or support for what you are getting. Unfortunately, in today’s world of commerce there just isn’t any room for ongoing service or support without a fee. So, if you are going to rely on something and you need to be able to have someone to deal with if anything goes wrong then you are likely going to have to pay for it up front. Technology services that are critical to a business fall under this category. If something needs to work one hundred percent of the time and if any problems arise they need to be resolved as quickly as possible, then that level of service or support comes at a price. Think of it this way, you may be able to find a free lunch from time to time, but you can’t send it back for a refund if you didn’t pay for it to begin with – in other words in this case you get what you pay for. Be careful of what you want to get for free, it just might not be the best investment of your time and attention.